To everything there is a level of precision, a degree of reliability, or a standard beyond which improvement is either unachievable, or requires huge investments of time and money well beyond the benefit of that improvement. Companies may refer to this point as "zero return on investment". Most of us just call it "good enough for jazz", "good enough for government work", or simply, "good enough".

It has been said that our ideal blood glucose levels "should" never vary outside the range of 80-126, ever -- but most of us don't have CGMs, none of us have glucose measurement technology with accuracy of greater than 5% (expanding that range out to 76-132) and even if we had them, we'd need infinitesimally-small amounts of ultra-fast acting insulin to keep it there every time it budged a point or two. For most of us, a two-hour postprandial reading of 140 is "good enough". (READ MORE)

Last month, a friend of mine had to build a website for a class project, and the site focused on people with diabetes who had multiple health problems.  I was really struck by the title and slogan that she came up with for the project; it was "Diabetes Plus: because it's rarely just diabetes."

Those words rang true for me, as I know they do for many people, because I'm a person with type 2 diabetes, and I have several other health problems, too.

On top of diabetes, I live with congestive heart failure and related issues, obstructive sleep apnea, asthma, acid reflux, a hiatal hernia and other gastrointestinal issues, migraines, and sinus/allergy problems.  There may be something I'm forgetting, but you get the idea.

And there's an equally crazy list of medications that accompanies that list of health problems.  They are as follows: (READ MORE)

My road to diagnosis began with an infection; a yeast infection to be exact. That’s right, I, a male, had a yeast infection.

Now, I’m like most guys when it comes to the plumbing, and was rather embarrassed by the fact that something was wrong downstairs. And, like an idiot, I delayed going to the doctor by trying “home remedies” first, in hopes that I might be able to avoid having to go the doctor. After reaching the end of my rope with the problem, I broke down and went to the doctor December 5, 2008.
(READ MORE)

Rickydavid on Flickr

I generally consider myself to be fairly mature for my age. I've attributed my maturity to the experiences I've been through, mostly from dealing with a chronic illness from such a young age. It definitely puts a different spin on your whole life. You consider life as temporary, something to be cherished. You know you don't have all the time in the world.

Despite the maturity, I've still got growing up to do. There are things that diabetes and all my other experiences haven't taught me. I still have the passion and will of my youth to contend against on a regular basis. I'm holding on to pieces of that youth for good reason, seeing where maturity can change life for the worse in some ways.

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A number of you left comments on my post about leaving little clues about my diabetes diagnosis for my boss in an email. Several of you were pretty critical of my actions.

Long-time readers of my blog, though, will know that I’ve decided to take a different approach at my new job. When I was diagnosed, I was less than a year into a job I loved with people I loved and respected. I had no problem telling just about everyone about my diagnosis. In fact, I felt relieved knowing everyone knew.

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To: Michelle's boss
From: Michelle
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
Subject: Tomorrow morning

Hey, boss. I'm going to have some bloodwork done on my way in tomorrow. I should be in by 8:30. I went to do it on Friday afternoon, but my doctor's office failed to tell me I had to be fasting. Grrr.

To: Michelle
From: Michelle's boss
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
Subject: Re: Tomorrow morning

OK. I hope everything's OK.

To: Michelle's boss
From: Michelle
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
Subject: Re: Tomorrow morning

  (READ MORE)